New Webcasting Rates Anger Everyone

from the this-isn't-working-out-so-well dept

Federal regulators came out with their latest numbers for royalties webcasters need to pay for the music they play. After a huge uproar from webcasters after the last proposal, this new one puts the price at half of what it was before. Not surprisingly, they pleases no one. Webcasters say it's still way too much, and will put most of them out of business. The music industry complains that it's way too little and is unfair to them. They even have the most ridiculous quote from a music industry person, suggesting that this is the reason we have the expression "I can get it for a song". What he doesn't seem to understand is that it's not that we're "devaluing artistic creations" (as he claims), but that we're trying to bring the market in line with what it's actually worth. The fact that webcasters want lower rates, and many people support them means that we actually value artistic creation more - because we'd like to be able to hear the music we like online. Instead, the music industry seems to be doing their best work to make sure that's impossible.